Man City loss to Minamino: Liverpool’s 2020 designed by Jurgen Klopp

Golden years rarely come with more lustre than Liverpool’s 2019. Jurgen Klopp’s team have taken the Kop on a thrilling ride. The most exciting thing about life at Anfield is that it feels like the start of something special, not the climax of a long journey. In June, Klopp’s team brought the Uefa Champions League trophy back to Merseyside for the sixth time. On Saturday, victory over Flamengo in the Club World Cup in Qatar would see Liverpool crowned global champions. The possibilities seem endless. Remarkably, the year started with a reverse, Liverpool’s last loss in the league. The 2-1 defeat by Manchester City at the Etihad on January 3 was a costly setback – Pep Guardiola’s team went on to win the title by a single point – but it was clear the margins separating the two best sides in the Premier League were tight. The balance began to tip in Liverpool’s favour that night. The conditions were set up for success for a number of reasons. Boss, @takumina0116 ⚽ pic.twitter.com/DfLCCD3tC1 — Liverpool FC (@LFC) December 19, 2019 Management Klopp is the focal point of everything that happens and the German is the perfect fit for the club. His inspirational presence and energy lift the players and the crowd. This side of the 52-year-old’s character sometimes distracts from how deeply he thinks about the game. When he arrived at Anfield four years ago, Klopp had a reputation for favouring a high-energy pressing game – “Heavy metal football,” as he called it. Liverpool’s approach this year has been much more subtle, with more selective pressing. The style of play has changed and the rest of the Premier League have not caught up with it. Klopp has been pragmatic, designing his systems to suit his players rather than forcing square pegs into round holes. Jurgen Klopp cracked up at this journalist’s epic question pic.twitter.com/jq6C8viLaI — ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) December 18, 2019 Tactics Full backs are traditionally the least glamorous outfield positions but Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson have become the creative powerhouses of the team. No opponents have been able to neutralise them. But it is not simply a matter of letting the wide defenders range forward. For the team’s structure to work, it needed a fundamental change in the way the midfield operates. Central players have traditionally been the engine room of the best teams. In Klopp’s system they have had to largely forego the roles generally assigned to midfielders – surging runs, goalscoring raids and determining the tempo of play. For this team their job is to give the side balance, fill space when the full backs surge upfield and bolster the defence. This is not midfield play as we know it. If the team was split into categories, the front three – Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane – and the full backs comprise the creative group. The centre backs and the midfielders are assigned to stop the opposition. Sides who try to set up against Liverpool as if dealing with a conventional midfield will lose. Klopp does not get enough credit for this innovation. Need a quick first lesson into what has seen @LFC being touted as arguably the best team on the planet right now? Here's your Liverpool Tactics 101 ahead of Wednesday's #ClubWC opener https://t.co/8uYBuArS81 pic.twitter.com/e62wGVLaY8 — FIFA.com (@FIFAcom) December 15, 2019 Personnel Fenway Sports Group (FSG) have been magnificent in backing Klopp and changed the way they operate at his behest. Before Klopp arrived, Liverpool looked for young, undervalued players and tried to make the club a place where up-and-coming star knew they could develop their game. Unfortunately, that meant Anfield was a staging post rather than a destination. The change came when FSG sanctioned spending big money Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker. Both are experienced leaders with real presence. Takumi Minamino, who has signed for £7.25 million from Salzburg, is the sort of player FSG have targeted over the years but once he would have come into an inexperienced team struggling to punch their weight. It would have been more difficult to find his feet in England. Now he can be eased in and develop naturally, giving him more chance of becoming a success. FSG have also been astute in extending Klopp’s contract until 2024. Roma 2018. Liverpool 2019. Messi hasn't forgotten about Barcelona's UCL collapses. pic.twitter.com/AX9mT7M7QA — ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) December 12, 2019 Mentality Liverpool are hard to beat because they do not ease off, even when a game seems beyond rescue. The number of late goals – the latest coming in stoppage time of the 2-1 Club World Cup semi-final victory over Monterrey this week – attests to this. The greatest example, though, was the 4-0 win over Barcelona in the Champions League after trailing by three goals from the first leg. It looked an impossible task but Klopp’s team attacked the game as if it was still 0-0. Across the squad there is a relentlessness and conviction that has allowed them to claw out results even in games where they have been hanging on for spells. Klopp calls them “Mentality monsters.” It is hard to disagree. Andy Robertson showing Lionel Messi no respect with a push in the back of the head...#LIVBAR pic.twitter.com/f2ZKIvGpXr — The Sportsman (@TheSportsman) May 7, 2019 Spikiness After Luis Suarez left Anfield, Liverpool were a soft touch. They could be outmuscled and intimidated at times. When the run of play was going against them, they let things continue instead of committing tactical fouls to break up the opposition’s rhythm. Sergio Ramos was allowed to dominate proceedings unchallenged in the Champions League final in Kiev last year. That no longer happens. Liverpool have become more physical when it is needed and less respectful of their rivals. This new approach was summed up when Robertson slapped Messi on the head at Anfield. The best teams have a seam of snideness. Klopp’s men have grown much more confident in the game’s dark arts over the past 12 months.